


Bound By Duty

by Miss_Forgettable



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Arranged Marriage AU, Barbie AU, De-Aged Characters, M/M, Pauper Yuuri, Prince and the Pauper AU, Princess and the Pauper AU, Royalty AU, Seamster Yuuri, Servant Otabek, Servant Otabek Altin, Tsar Viktor Of West Russia, Tsarevich Yuri Of East Russia, Tsarevich Yuri Plisetsky, basically Victor Yuri and Otabek are living the life while Yuuri is making clothes, bet you never imagined this in a million years, i mean technically they're imperials but let's ignore that for the sake of the tags, in which Victor spells his name with a C normally but is crowned under a K since it's more Russian, ooohhh yeaahhh i'm going there, seems fair enough, sort of, tsar Victor, tsarevich Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 20:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Forgettable/pseuds/Miss_Forgettable
Summary: In all of his nineteen years of life, Tsarevich Yuri Of East Russia has only knowingly been seen by two people; his mother and his one friend, Otabek. This was something that was supposed to keep him safe.Not all safety can last though.Suddenly, and with no real explanation, the gold within the Imperial mines disappears without a trace, leaving Yuri's mother, the Tsarina, no choice but to give away her child's hand in marriage to the Tsar Of West Russia to avoid the country's collapse.Not all good plans can work in the end though, and when a young pauper of the same name as the Tsarevich becomes involved things become more than a little interesting.And why was the gold missing in the first place? Was it someone, or something twisting their country's fate?And how far are Yuri and Otabek willing to go to stand by their duty?





	

**Author's Note:**

> The following is loosely based on the 2004 film Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. Which is in turn loosely based on the Mark Twain novel The Prince and the Pauper.
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty-.”

“I’m terribly sorry, but I’ve already made my decision. My son shall marry the Tsar of West Russia, I’ll pass down the crown to him and Mother Russia will once again become whole instead of its two halves.”

Otabek, tutor and servant to Tsarevich Yuri of East Russia, watched as the blonde Tsarina turned away from him to face the balcony as tears began to form in her eyes. His heart pained in his chest to see her like this; she had become a second mother to him through the years he, and his family, had served her and her son. Despite his own, _personal_ , feelings on the situation at hand, he could see her side. While many in their half Russia loved her with every fibre of their being, to many she was a disgrace before she was even crowned. Be it that she was a lone, female ruler or that her son’s father had never been revealed to the people for he had been born to her as a sixteen-year-old out of wedlock, the bigots of their country would always find some way to discredit her good nature.

Many would blame her now too, that the gold in the Imperial mines had run out and by this point she was seriously risking assassination. Otabek knew that one day she would be forced to marry her son off to a neighbouring ruler in order to stop East Russia from going into depression but he’d always hoped that Yuri would be at least twenty-five, not nineteen! He knew that _his_ Yuri was going to hate it too, but _Tsarevich_ Yuri would allow it to happen as he was bound by his duty.

It was almost laughable really, that Yuri’s face had been hidden from the public-eye since his birth for his own protection, but that a mere servant-boy had been allowed to see him as his sole source of human interaction. Otabek, one of only two people who had ever knowingly seen Yuri’s face, had seen far more of the nineteen-year-old than Yuri’s own fiancé had.

“I don’t want to do this, you know,” the Tsarina spoke softly to him, “You know I’d rather have you as a son-in-law any day.” She reached up to squeeze his cheek lightly as her restraints broke and she left out several loud sobs. His cheeks flushed red at her comment as she allowed herself to forget her Imperial appearance and flung her arms around his neck.

Otabek allowed a small, sad smile to adorn his usually emotionless features as he whispered, “ _In another life I’d give anything to be able to call you my mother-in-law, Natalia, but we only have this life and Yuri can never know my deepest feelings for him_.” He truly loved his best-friend but the circumstances of their country, along their social standings, would never let them be together. And that wasn’t even touching on those that still saw marriage between two men to be sinful.

More sobs erupted from the blonde woman’s throat as she tried to form a sentence in response.

“I’ve told you time and time again that I don’t care what my title is, or how much older I am than you, and to call me Natasha, but I guess Natalia is a step up from _Your Majesty_ ,” she attempted to joke, “But I guess we’ve got to leave _something_ for the next life in which you _are_ my son-in-law.”

She leant away from his shoulder for moment to smile up at him before then leaning in close again to whisper in his ear, “ _Thank you for loving my son despite his duty; you will always be my real son-in-law in my heart_.”

  


* * *

  


“Your Highness, would you please hold still-.”

“FOR THE LAST TIME BEKA, IF WE’RE GOING TO DO THIS WE’RE DOING IT ON MY TERMS!”

“I don’t think that’s a necessary way to react to your fitting-.”

“TO HELL WITH THE DAMN FITTING, I LOOK LIKE A BLOODY PRIEST IN THESE ROBES!”

Otabek sighed as he attempted to calm his student down. The Tsarevich had refused to wear his facial veil for the fitting and so the twenty-one-year-old had been left with the job of trying to adjust his friend’s wedding robes alone; something that he’d learnt to do after years of repeating similar situations.

Yuri sat down on the footstool and sighed before glancing up at the older man and mumbling, “At least it’s only you I have to deal with for now, Beka. Later I’ll have to wear that stupid, itchy veil again for the Imperial meeting... Do you know how much I want to rip that off sometimes and scream _‘I’M THE TSAREVICH MOTHER-FUCKERS!’_?”

Along with the innocent face, the language that came out of the nineteen-year-old’s mouth would’ve made other Imperials and Royals swoon in disbelief. On occasion, Otabek and the Tsarina were almost glad that they couldn’t unleash the young man on the world.

Otabek chuckled lightly at the blond’s outburst before coughing firmly to gain his attention.

“My deepest apologies, Your Highness, but I’m afraid that tonight you won’t have the chance to do that.”

Yuri almost stood up in surprise.

“What?”

“The Tsar of West Russia has asked for permission to see your face when you meet.”

The teenager groaned loudly before replying, “Well, at least I won’t be tempted to pull it off then...”

“Now that we’ve made that clear, can we continue with the pinning, please?” Otabek said bluntly in an attempt to finish his job; they’d been going over the same part of the robes for almost two hours by this point.

“Beka, why do I even have to wear robes in the first place? Why can’t I just wear a suit like any other sane individual?”

The twenty-one-year-old chuckled once again as the smaller boy made his protests clear.

“Because, by tradition, when two men are married in an Imperial service, it is seen as unacceptable for them both to wear the same thing,” he said in response to the blond’s question. It may have been a rhetorical question but Otabek wasn’t going to waste his pinning time to find out.

“Ugh, why can’t I just wear a dress then? They can throw all that _‘manly’_ crap at me but, bitch, I would wear that princess gown any day over these converted swaddling-cloths and I would look _fucking fabulous_!”

Almost as if she’d heard her son’s outburst, the Tsarina chose that moment to enter the room. She smiled at the pair and waltzed over to inspect the pinning and stitching.

Seeming to be happy with Otabek’s work she rested a hand on Yuri’s shoulder and said softly, “You look lovely, darling.”

Her smile turned somewhat nostalgic as she stared into his emerald eyes, exact copies of her own, with what looked like no intention to look away any time soon. Their resemblance was uncanny, Otabek was once again realising, and you’d have to be blind not to know that they were related. From the Tsarina’s green eyes to her son’s green eyes, and from Yuri’s blond hair to his mother’s blonde hair, he was like a male Natalia 2.0 (although Otabek tried to refrain from using that analogy since Yuri was already deprived of his individuality enough as it is).

“By the way, the Tsar is no longer coming tonight,” she whispered.

Yuri looked at her in shock.

“Really, why?” he whispered back, albeit a little louder than his mother.

She nodded lightly before replying, “An emergency came up in Saint Petersburg and he called in to tell me that he was sorry for not being able to make it.”

“Mummy?” he whispered.

“Yes, sweetheart?” she whispered back.

“Why are we whispering?”

The Tsarina almost snorted and within a few seconds they were erupting with giggles. Otabek found himself holding his breath involuntarily when he heard Yuri’s laughter; precious was the only way he could describe it.

She turned to Otabek, speaking up this time so he could hear her more clearly.

“Beka, I’ve finally managed to get _that plan_ underway, you can take him there now.”

Otabek knew the exact plan she was talking about as they’d been trying to do it for years. That night was finally going to give the young Tsarevich the taste of freedom he’d wanted before his impending marriage and Otabek was going to make it count.

 

**Author's Note:**

> In Russian diminutives, Natalia can become Natasha (this is what she was talking about in the beginning).  
> The reason I have Yuri calling his mum Mummy instead of Mother or anything else formal sounding is that it's actually common among Royalty to call parents Mummy and Daddy (Prince Charles still calls Prince Phillip Daddy (: ).


End file.
